Focused echocardiography, end-tidal carbon dioxide, arterial blood pressure or near-infrared spectroscopy monitoring during paediatric cardiopulmonary resuscitation: A scoping review

AIM: To evaluate the individual use and predictive value of focused echocardiography, end-tidal carbon dioxide (EtCO(2)), invasive arterial blood pressure (BP) and near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) during cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) in children. METHODS: This scoping review was undertaken as part of the continuous evidence evaluation process of the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation (ILCOR) and based on the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) extension for scoping reviews. PubMed, MEDLINE, CINAHL and EMBASE were searched from the last ILCOR reviews until September 2020. We included all published studies evaluating the effect of echocardiography, EtCO(2), BP or NIRS guided CPR on clinical outcomes and quality of CPR. RESULTS: We identified eight observational studies, including 288 children. Two case series reported the use of echocardiography, one in detecting pulmonary emboli, the second in cardiac standstill, where contractility was regained with the use of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. The two studies describing EtCO(2) were ambivalent regarding the association between mean values and any outcomes. Mean diastolic BP was associated with increased survival and favourable neurological outcome, but not with new substantive morbidity in two studies describing an overlapping population. NIRS values reflected changes in EtCO(2) and cerebral blood volume index in two studies, with lower values in patients who did not achieve return of circulation. CONCLUSION: Although there seems some beneficial effect of these intra-arrest variables, higher quality paediatric studies are needed to evaluate whether echocardiography, EtCO(2), BP or NIRS guided CPR could improve outcomes.